Please welcome Lorrie Muldowney, this month’s guest blogger. When we go on walks she identifies the birds we see – and here in the March 2021 Saturday Morning Magazine blog she introduces you to her love of birding.
Photographs of owl, woodpecker, cardinal, egret and hawks by Sara Dynan. Photograph of owl in bird box by Ryan Inskeep, Florida Native Gardens.
“I am honored to be asked to contribute a piece to Lucy’s Saturday Morning Magazine. I love Lucy’s style of writing. It raises my expectations and makes me eager to try something new. Writing about birding is new to me.
On reflection perhaps I have never written about birding because of my eagerness to more actively engage in this pastime to walk through a muddy field, peer into the boughs of a tree, gaze at the sky.
In short when birding I live in the moment of sighting an elusive bird and observing its behavior. Simple pleasures. Thanks, Lucy, for this opportunity!
A wise friend of mine, with whom I have spent hundreds of hours birding, told me shortly after we met at a Sarasota Audubon Society meeting years ago that she began to bird to help focus her attentions when undertaking field trips.
By identifying birds she could enhance her ability to identify trees and grasses and habitats because, of course, these things all fit together. Shore birds are indeed at the shore and woodpeckers are usually found in trees.
But be careful about making too many assumptions because many birds act in manners unexpected. Think of owls that burrow and blue jays that attack red shouldered hawks.
Indeed, just as soon as I begin to rely on past knowledge and make assumptions about where certain birds would appear startling discoveries begin. Birds do not necessarily follow the rules and their territories are in continuous flux.
I am a self-proclaimed left-handed birder. This is a term used by the poet Leonard Nathan who took up the hobby late in life and frequently spends hours under wretched conditions only to glimpse the blur of a wing.
To me it means my trips are often compromised by weather, lighting, and the time of day. Indeed, many birds elude me.
The attraction of birds is memorialized in our culture. Bands like the Byrds and the Eagles commemorate them and songs like Rockin Robin, Three Little Birds, and Blackbird are popular tunes that come to mind.
The rewards of birding even when left-handed have enriched my life in ways that cannot be measured.
Highlights include trips to northern Maine to see nesting Atlantic Puffins, Golden Eagles soaring below me when cresting a peak in Utah’s Zion National Park and Roseate Spoonbills as pink as the morning sky here in Sarasota heading out towards their day of gathering.
Here in Sarasota, we are lucky to have many accessible bird watching locations and year-round opportunities for gazing.
My favorites include Myakka River State Park, Sarasota County’s Celery Fields and the vast shorelines of the Gulf of Mexico and Sarasota Bay.
Prior to the current pandemic Sarasota Audubon Society provided guides seasonally at the Celery Fields. The Celery Fields are part of the Great Florida Birding Trail.
Audubon is also the sponsor for the annual Christmas Bird Count. A tradition that has been taking place for 121 years nationwide. All Christmas Bird Counts are conducted between December 14 to January 5.
Another opportunity is the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) organized by Audubon with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It takes place President’s Day weekend each February, and you can count the birds each day in your backyard/community and then enter the results online. For more information on local programs visit www.sarasotaaudubon.org
The beauty of birding is that it can be done everywhere. The best times of day to search for birds are in the morning and evening when many species are more active. Comfortable shoes are a must and binoculars are helpful. Most importantly observe your surroundings, stay quiet and be prepared to wait. In time I assure you your patience will be rewarded.
My love of birding fits in nicely with other outdoor activities that I find enjoyable like my backpacking, running and urban exploration.
In fact, it enhances these activities by adding to my appreciation of the places I am traveling through and by my ability to share my observations with my willing companions.
It is nice to be able to experience such varied sensory pleasures all at once! From muddy boots to tired eyes. Head to toes it is a complete experience.”
Lorrie Muldowney is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), an Associate Member of the American Institute of Architects, (AIA) and an avid observer of the built and natural environments. She is semi-retired, a lifetime member of the National Audubon Society and serves on the Board of Directors of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation www.preservesrq.org and the Preserve Arlington Park Neighborhood Committee www.arlingtonparkneighborhood.com. She also works as a consultant specializing in historic preservation. She can be reached at [email protected]